He dipped his lower body on the water while anchoring both of his tentacles on the river’s edge so that he won’t drift away. Yes, this is what he just needs. He was starting to smell like blood a few hours ago.

His mind wandered about certain things as he relaxed. After he finds a suitable place for his base, he’ll have to find specific materials to feed the Builder-tool. According to his debriefing, before his ship launched to space, this planet should have an abundant resource of gold, silver, and quartz, which are the basic materials for most of the blueprints in the Builder-tool.

After he’s steady on those three’s supply, finding other rarer materials should be easy.

Thinking all about these things just got him more pumped on reaching that Yggdrasil tree. Speaking of that tree…

He turned his face to the said tree over the distance. Its sheer size was incomprehensible; he doubts that there’s something as big as that on his planet. The top isn’t even visible as it's beyond the clouds, and its width alone blocked a wide portion of the sun’s light itself. The other trees, which he thought were gigantic already, looked like mere ants compared to the Yggdrasil.

He wondered if something already lived there. If there is, he hoped that they wouldn’t mind a new neighbor. Guess he’ll just have to find out when he gets there.

“Upu.”

He hoisted himself up from the river, now feeling refreshed after having his quick relaxing time. The sun would fully set soon, so he should find another place to sleep for tonight. He’ll just have to tough it up for now; who knows, maybe after a day or two, he’ll have his own home to go back to by then.

“Killed? All of them?”

Sylph yelled in irritation. Having received the news that the goblins failed on their task miserably, the tiny fairy couldn’t help her anger and disappointment. Apparently, even after successfully entrapping the monster with their whole tribe, somehow, they still couldn’t kill it. Some stragglers managed to survive, but it wouldn’t be long till they perish to the other predators inside the forest.

“Oh well.” she sighs, shrugging. “I didn’t really expect much from them anyway. Also, now that they’re dead, my forest have one less creepies in it.”

She flopped down on her ‘bed’, her arms spread. Her ‘room’ can be found up above the highest point of the tree; inside the heart of Yggdrasil. Its Core, which gives life to the whole forest-- a large circular orb of emerald shining inside the darkness-filled interior of Yggdrasil-- served as her room and bed.

She closed her eyes in tiredness. As she lay motionless, the energy coming from the Core seeped through her skin. “Ahh…”

So many problems to prevent. So many things to protect. Being a guardian isn’t fun at all.

Sylph missed her former way of life, when all she cared for was her hair, food, and house. She lived the way she wanted without being restricted to anything. She was free.

The tiny fairy opened her eyes. Now she’s here, ‘protecting’ things that she doesn’t even care about. Always needed to keep appearances when meeting other guardians, or any other important person. Expected to keep the peace of the entire forest alone.

Up until now, everything had been dull. Grey and black, day and night. She’ll patrol somewhere when it’s daytime, and regulate the forest’s Core as she sleeps.

“But that strange monster…” a small sinister smile formed on her face.

It actually killed those ugly and annoying goblins she hates the most. True, she was the one who sent them to their deaths, but nobody needs to know those small details…

After countless decades of being the guardian, Sylph finally felt what she longed for the most: Fun.

“This is interesting. Maybe I can let it roam around my home for a while longer.” she giggled to herself. She stared through the large hole above and to the moon beyond it.

“What will you do next, monster?”

His head snapped up in attention. He felt like someone was talking to him, but he’s all alone here inside this tree. He might have been just dreaming.

Taking a peek outside revealed that it’s already day time, what with the sun glaring down on everything from above. It’s been long since he felt the rays of the yellow star hitting his skin. It reminded him of his planet, which has a more-or-less similar star of its own.

His stomach still feels full, which is good. The buffet yesterday really was delicious. This day is great!

He should start traveling. He wouldn’t want to waste such a day like this. He grabbed his food case and crawled towards the direction of his destination; the Yggdrasil.

“Puru!”

He trudged through the side of the river with a happy tune. He even sounded like Slime back there. Slime seemed joyful and giddy during their entire conversation yesterday, and it grew on him. He should be like her. She probably suffered through something worse than him for her to turn like… that. Yet still, Slime never removed that metaphorical smile on her face and lived on through her life. She’s a strong girl. He should strive to be like her.

His mind was filled with more idle thoughts on the entirety of his journey… Well, until he reached about a fourth of the river, that is.

“Haha! Look, isn’t this place awesome?”

“Rule, the guild warned us to not go in here! Let’s go back!”

“Let him be, Helen. If something happens to us, we’ll blame him.”

A trio of humans was talking to each other not far ahead of him. The male looked like a fledgling knight, wearing a shiny set of metal armor. He also possesses a longsword, strapped on his back and ready whenever he’ll need it. The second human was a girl wearing a flowing white dress, trimmed with golden hems here and there. A silver staff is held tightly by her right hand.

The last one, garbed in black robes that covered her whole body beside her front, was a girl. She wore a pair of glasses over her eyes, while a thick leather book is bound on her left hip.

The girls looked significantly younger than the guy, for some reason.

The alien’s whole body paused upon seeing the three. What are humans doing here? They already found where he landed? Just how far did the technology of this planet’s humanity have come?

If he runs away, he’ll never be able to reach Yggdrasil today. There’s only one way towards it, and that’s to follow the river. The forest near here isn’t as traversable as the paths he took on before.

He needs to go there as fast as possible. Wasting his time crawling all over this forest wouldn’t help him invade this world.

Thus, there’s only one answer to this question…

“Don’t worry, it’s not like we’re some random newbies.” Rule assured his two companions with a smile. “I’m a C-rank, remember?”

The healer of their party, Helen, cries out in reply. “C-ranks might be allowed here, but I and Gale are only D-rank. W-We might even get slaughtered here!” The white-haired girl turned her eyes from side to side, afraid that a monster will appear all of a sudden if she wasn’t looking.

Their last member, a wizard by the name of Gale, sighed. “What Helen’s saying hold some truth, Rule. We already picked the herbs requested, let’s just go back.”

“You’re both worrying too much.” the boy waved them off, grinning. “Come on, let’s just take a quick dip! I heard the water coming from Yggdrasil works wonders to girls.” Rule smiled at them.

Gale raised a small eyebrow. “And how did you know that?”

The man paused for a second, trying to find his voice. “Well, from my former party members…”

“Let’s just go back, please…” Helen seemed scared out of her wits.

Internally, Rule clicked his tongue. He thought luring in this pair of newbies would be easy, as with the others before them. But the healer is a coward, while the wizard seemed sharp for what she’s worth.

Should he just do it here now? He can surprise them if he makes the first move. Just when he was trying to reach for his blade…

Clang!

With nothing but pure reflexes and instincts honed through the years of adventuring, Rule managed to parry an incoming strike from his left. His weapon blocked the slash of a white sword… no, a bone?

Beyond it, a creature he has never seen before held the sharp bone, which was sticking out from one of its limbs.

“What the heck is this…?” Rule couldn’t help but gape in surprise.